Oh Best Beloved, the phrase “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God” is attributed to Ben Franklin

Or maybe Thomas Jefferson, who knows. It is shown here on the proposed seal of the United States

Exodus!
Exodus!
Moove-mant of da peeple!

Heard hiding in the dark @ BlessedTrinityLeroyAve

The Lord God said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?

Tell the Israelites to go forward. And you, lift up your staff! Stretch your hand out over the sea and split the sea in two so that the Israelites may walk through it on dry land. But I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they go in after them. Then I will receive glory from Pharaoh and his army of chariots and charioteers. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I receive glory from Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers.” (pause)

The Angel of God, which had been leading the Israelites, came around behind them.

A column of cloud came behind them also and separated the Egyptians from the camp of Israel. And the cloud became dark so that all was darkness in one camp but the cloud gave light by night to the other. And so the two camps came no closer to each other all night long. (pause)

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea

and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind all night long so that it became dry ground and divided the water. The Israelites marched through the midst of the sea on dry ground, with the water like walls to their right and to their left. (pause)

The Egyptians followed in pursuit

All of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers followed the Israelites into the midst of the sea. In the night watch, just before dawn, the Lord cast a glance at the Egyptians through the column of fiery cloud and it threw them into a panic! The Lord so clogged the wheels of their chariots that they could hardly drive! Then the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel because they believed the Lord was fighting against them. (pause)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea,

that the waters may come upon the Egyptians, their chariots and their charioteers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and at dawn the sea returned to its former depth. The Egyptians were fleeing toward the midst of the sea! As the water flowed back it covered Pharaoh’s whole army of chariots and charioteers, and unfortunately the horses too. (long pause)

Not a single one of them escaped.

But the Israelites walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the waters like walls to their right and to their left. Thus the Lord saved the Israelites on that day from the power of the Egyptians and in the morning, when they saw the dead Egyptians washed up on the sea shore, the Israelites saw the work the Lord had done and they feared and believed in the Lord, and in his servant Moses.

Then Moses and the children of Israel (that’s you, best beloved)

Moses and the children of Israel sang this song of praise:

“I will sing, I will sing to the God who sets me free!
Pharaoh’s army and his chariots God cast into the sea”

The Word of the Lord

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty together again

Oh best beloved, observe above the artist’s rendition of a “fine young filly” reaching to an egg on the wall.

Well, the first thing you should know is that, notwithstanding radio silence for most of the year, the Sands-Clay tribe is alive and kicking and trucking along, mostly intact and safe and sane despite the year’s chaotic events (“mostly,” please note how I wrote.)

Elizabeth continues to treat her little “medically-fragile” cuties, and some elderly ones too, in such a way that they cannot do without her and so she has little time for much else except playing organ, conducting a church choir, writing a music bulletin, doing laundry, rooting for the Buffalo Bills, operating a kitty hostel and feeding children (of all ages) more often than seems fair. Oh, I forgot to add her other job of caring for her doting, drooling husband now close to maxing out his Social Security pension.

(“My dear boy,” Auntie Pat would say, “whoever told you that life is fair?”)

I worked for Robert Half International for most of the year in a vain attempt to look somewhat busy alongside my wife. I started the year managing logistics at a hose manufacturer in downtown Buffalo and in May I took an assignment the Linde Gas company in Tonawanda (American readers will be more familiar with the name Praxair.) It barely counts as legitimate work but it keeps me on a schedule and helps to delay, possibly, the atrophy of my scattered mind. One of the fun aspects of in-office work five miles away is that I ride my awesome fixed-gear Detroit Bike to and from whenever I can and it turns out to be the most rewarding of my routines.

George & Nina

The biggest event of our year was George’s wedding to the lovely Nina at Camp Stomping Ground, the summer camp venue where they met and where many of their friends live and work. They have owned a house in Glens Falls for three years so it was not as if this commitment was entirely unexpected.

What a joyous event it was!

Humpty Dumpty Pudding and Pie
Kissed the Girls and made them cry
When the Gays came out to play
Humpty Dumpty ran away